1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a single use lancet device structured to be conveniently and effectively utilized for various blood sampling procedure, but which is also substantially safe, preventing re-firing of the device after it has been used, and thereby preventing and/or substantially minimizing inadvertent contamination of a patient and/or other personnel as a result of a used and potentially contaminated lancet. Furthermore, the device is compact and easy to utilize in a cost effective and preferably fully disposable manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lancets are commonly utilized instruments which are employed both in hospitals and other medical facilities, as well as by private individuals, such as diabetics, in order to prick or pierce a patient's skin, typically on a finger of a patient, thereby leading to the generation of a blood sample which can be collected for testing. Because of the wide spread use of such lancets, there are a variety of lancet devices which are available for utilization by patients and/or practitioners in a variety of different circumstances.
For example, a typical lancet may merely include a housing with a sharp piercing tip that is pushed into the patient's skin. More commonly, however, lancet devices, which house a piercing tip and/or a lancet, have been developed which effectively encase and fire the lancet into the patient's skin, thereby eliminating the need for the person taking the sample to actually push the lancet tip into the skin.
Within the various types of specialized lancet devices, one variety is typically configured for multiple and/or repeated uses, while another category is particularly configured for single use, after which the entire device is disposed of. Looking in particular to the single use, disposable lancet devices, such devices typically include a housing which contains and directs or drives a piercing tip into the patient's skin, and which is disposed of along with the used lancet. Naturally, so to make such disposable devices cost effective for frequent use, such devices tend to be rather simplistic in nature providing only a sufficient mechanism for firing, and not overly complicating the design so as to minimize that cost.
While existing single use devices are generally effective for achieving the piercing of the skin required for effective operation, such single use, disposable devices typically do not incorporate a large number of safety features to ensure the safe use and disposal of the device. For example, one primary area of safety which must be addressed with all lancet devices pertains to the purposeful and/or inadvertent reuse of a contaminated lancet. Unfortunately, most currently available single use lancet devices are configured such that after a use thereof has been achieved, it is possible for a patient to re-cock the device, thereby allowing for a subsequent, inappropriate use.
As a result, it would be highly beneficial to provide a single use lancet device which is substantially compact and disposable, can be manufactured in a substantially cost effective manner, and which nevertheless is substantially safe to utilize, affirmatively preventing re-use, once contaminated. Additionally, it is noted that while other devices may be provided to prevent the lancet from even being cocked, it would still be beneficial to provide a device that, even if the lancet is re-cocked, does not allow for additional and/or secondary firing.